Actor injured by loaded gun during play rehearsal

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Actor injured by loaded gun during play rehearsal
ASSOCIATED PRESS • January ...

Actor injured by loaded gun during play rehearsal

BRADENTON — Tragedy nearly struck a group of actors in Bradenton when authorities say a loaded gun was accidentally used during a rehearsal.
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Bill Bordy, vice president of the Sarasota Senior Theater, was rehearsing a scene from John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” Monday evening when he picked up a pistol he had borrowed from another cast member. Bordy pointed the loaded revolver at the head of another actor, Fred Kellerman, and pulled the trigger.

Bordy’s aim was off and only grazed Kellerman’s ear. He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Just two hours after the shooting, the play went on as scheduled with another actor performing Kellerman’s part.

No charges have been filed, but the shooting is still under investigation.

I don't understand how this can happen. Are these people idiots? No one even checked the gun first? Well, they are actors.
Let's assume they borrowed the gun. If you were to loan a gun (bad idea), wouldn't you take the cartridges out first?
Good thing actors are bad shots.

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

Updated: Dress rehearsal turned scary after loaded gun went off

SARASOTA — A day after being shot in the head during a dress rehearsal for a play at Manatee Players theater, the last thing 81-year-old Fred Kellerman says he wants is for his acting career to end.

As part of the Sarasota Senior Theater, Kellerman was preparing with one last rehearsal to take the stage Sunday as “Lenny” in a production of the John Steinbeck novel “Of Mice and Men.”

It was the last practice run before the 7:30 p.m. curtain scheduled Sunday at the Manatee Players theater in the 100 block of 12th Street West in Bradenton.

At the end of the play, Kellerman’s character takes a fatal gunshot to the head.

Just after 5 p.m., Kellerman got on his knees and his co-star, William Bordy, 78, pulled the trigger on a .32-caliber revolver. To everyone’s shock the gun was anything but a prop, instead later found to be fully loaded.

Bradenton Police would find Kellerman backstage with blood covering the stage, according to reports.

“I heard a loud bang. I knew something was wrong. But I never passed out,” Kellerman said.

Kellerman said doctors would later find the bullet tore into his skull, ricocheted off bone, then came back out and tore off a piece of his ear. Doctors sewed the piece of ear back on at Manatee Memorial Hospital, Kellerman said.

“It took a chunk off my ear, but I was told it will grow together. I really feel no pain,” he said. “I was really lucky.”

Bradenton Police reports say Bordy, president of Sarasota Senior Theater and the play’s director, got the gun from a group member, Natalie Gundrum.

The group had used the gun in the past as a prop, but Gundrum told police she did not check to see if the gun was loaded when she brought it for the show Sunday, according to police reports.

Bordy told police he didn’t check the gun either, assuming it was not loaded. Bordy told police he should have checked the gun, but it had been empty when the group used it last for the same play.

“It was stupid, stupid. Something you should never do,” Bordy said Tuesday. “I got careless.”

Bordy told the Bradenton Herald he was in total shock when the gun went off.

“It was just supposed to be a click then the lights go down. But when I pulled the trigger, it went off and he fell to the floor,” Bordy said.

After emergency workers took Kellerman to Manatee Memorial Hospital, Bordy and the rest of the group went on with the show, performing its variety show, including “Of Mice and Men,” with another actor in Kellerman’s place.

“It is the old saying ‘the show must go on,’ Of course, I collapsed as soon as it was over,” Bordy said.

Kellerman said he is glad they went ahead with the show.

“There were 100 people there waiting. They sure should have done the show,” he said.

Kellerman called his director and co-star Tuesday morning to tell him he was alright.

“He is just a jovial, wonderful man, I just thank God he is OK,” said Bordy after a sleepless night. “He was bright and happy when he called. I am so relieved.”

Kellerman said he has no animosity about what happened.

“I don’t have any anger whatsoever. What happened was pretty stupid, but I am not the least bit upset,” Kellerman said.

Next month Kellerman says he wants to perform in a musical he is rehearsing for now. He called his director to apologize for not making it to rehearsal Tuesday but plans on making practice Friday, Bordy said.

“I very much want to still be part of the group. I look at this as nothing more than an accident,” he said.

Bradenton Police Chief Michael Radzilowski said the shooting is still under investigation and findings will be turned over the state attorney’s office for review.

“It will most likely be up to prosecutors to decide on the facts. Either way it was a very dangerous situation,” Radzilowski said.

Radzilowski said as a result of the shooting, he may ask the city council to investigate possible legislation regulating the use of firearms during theater productions.

Three adult humans with brains did not think to check the firearm.
First the owner of the gun, who is IMHO liable and committed a crime, leaves her home without checking the firearm first to be sure it's unloaded. Then the second actor takes hold f it and _assumes_ it's empty, because last time he used it it was empty (!). Which is stupid as hell reasoning.
Followed by the third actor and gun shot victim who himself should have checked the firearm too, before hand, to ensure for himself that he is safe and not going to be shot for real (!). Nevermind that a properly trained and firearm knowledgeable propmaster should have been providing all firearms, handling them, and inspecting them prior to use. Oh, and prop guns for plays and such should be toy guns not real firearms (!). Or at the very least remove the firing pin from the real firearm and keep that locked away so as to disable the possibility for such an event to occur. Duh!

A human being was injured and had he been shot anywhere else rather than in the frontal lobe (the thickest most armored area on the human body) then he would have been likely killed. This was no 'accident'. Same as most every firearm related 'accident' I've ever read or heard of were not accidents. This is negligence, borne in stupidity, ignorance, improper training, and failure to follow the very simple four rules of firearm safety.

If I'm actor number two, first on my list of things to do is kick actors number one's ass upon release from the hospital

Actor number two should be kicking his own ass for not taking his own welfare into hand, and he himself verifying that the firearm was emptied...rather than assuming others did so and placing his life into the hands of others.

I would say the owner of the gun and actor #1 are guilty of criminal negligence, and actor #2 is guilty of blatant stupidity. The theater group could also be guilty of criminal negligence for using a real gun instead of prop weapons.

Actor number two should be kicking his own ass for not taking his own welfare into hand, and he himself verifying that the firearm was emptied...rather than assuming others did so and placing his life into the hands of others.

- Janq

BINGO!!! I'm no actor but I can guarantee you that NO ONE would point a gun at me unless I had personally checked it.